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How one community college engaged more high school students—without breaking the bank

Challenge

Similar to most community colleges, Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC) boasts strong partnerships with local high schools in their service area, and has a variety of dual enrollment programs. However, few local high school graduates were applying and enrolling at TNCC to pursue post-secondary education. The college searched for strategies to further engage local high school students through existing channels, without breaking the bank.

GET TO KNOW

Thomas Nelson Community College

Solution

TNCC's president and director of institutional research attended a national leadership summit for members of EAB's Community College Executive Forum in Spring 2014. At the meeting, they heard the latest research from Turning High School Partnerships into College Enrollments, a critical institutional focus.

There, the "One-Stop Caravans" practice stood out as a potentially effective strategy to engage local high school students in the college application and enrollment process—sending teams of student services representatives to local high schools to help prepare students for application, financial aid, placement, and registration deadlines.

This low-cost intervention with high returns immediately became an appealing practice for implementation at the college.

$15K+

Additional revenue earned from enrollment increases at high schools with One-Stop Caravans

Impact

Enrollment bump leads to revenue gains

TNCC launched One-Stop Caravans at seven area high schools in 2015. Where caravans were launched, applicants for Fall 2016 enrollment rose by 24% (compared to a 4% rise at schools without caravans). Enrollments rose by 3% (compared to a 4% decline at schools without caravans).

With
each student enrolling in an average of eight credits, the 13
additional students enrolled through EAB's One-Stop Caravan practice
earned the college approximately $15,700 in tuition revenue in the first
term alone.